


Here With Me

by thatluckyrabbit



Category: Casper (1995)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Comfort, Cuddling, Doctor/Patient, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Ghost/Human, Kissing, M/M, Male Slash, Mental Hospital, Pointless fluff, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 08:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/885050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatluckyrabbit/pseuds/thatluckyrabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Whipstaff's really empty without ya, Doc..." There's not much company for James Harvey inside an insane asylum... except for a certain violet-eyed ghost who visits him—and comforts him—every night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Because I love this pairing, pointless fluff and some angst. 
> 
> And I just had to add a mention of Kat/Amber, because I just HAD too. X3 This takes place an in AU where James and Stretch are together, as well as Kat and Amber. An AU years after the first movie, so Kat and Amber are adults and had become best friends in high school, and are now together in this AU universe. So yeah. Just to make that clear. XD
> 
> This is based on the song "Here With Me" by Dido, because this song PERFECTLY describes Stretch/James, from Stretch's POV. X3

   
 _'I won't leave_  
 _I can't hide_  
 _I cannot be_  
 _Until you're resting here with me...'_  
   

**—"Here With Me", Dido**

If there was one trait Stretch McFadden found the most enduring in James Harvey, it was the human's ability to keep a level head in such a stressful situation. Not to mention his rather positive outlook on life and patience to handle such situations as this one.  
  
Which were the very things that Stretch _wasn't_ used to. He was the complete opposite in many ways: he could get angry very easily, had been very cynical most of his afterlife (and when he was alive, too), and had no patience to deal with anything.  
  
James was the first person—and maybe the _only_ person—who managed to keep Stretch grounded. In more ways than one. The human proved to be the ghost's better half—that much Stretch knew for sure. And did Stretch love that dorky, adorable doctor who'd helped him grow into a better ghost? You bet he did. More than anything.

James meant the world to Stretch, and of course, whenever Stretch had something good going for him, someone he cared about, someone he _loved_ , fate had to come in and take it away. Just like everything else.

And it just wasn't _fair._  
  
"Whipstaff's really empty without ya, Doc..."  
  
James smiled sadly, though Stretch couldn't see it, considering the position they were currently in on the bed. "I know, Stretch... I know."  
  
"No, you don't know." Stretch tightened his grip around the other male's waist, holding him closer as though he didn't want to ever let go again—which he'd have to once the morning came. But he always made sure James was asleep before leaving... he wanted the human to get his rest, after all. "This wasn't supposed to happen... not to you. They weren't supposed to take _you."_  
  
"It was bound to happen eventually," James reminded him with a sigh. "There wasn't anything you or Kat could have done to stop it."  
  
"Yes there was."  
  
"Really?" James raised an eyebrow, amused. "Do tell."  
  
"I coulda killed them." The ferocity in his tone only proved further that Stretch meant every word. "Every last one of them fleshies who forced ya here." The memory of James' forciable capture—Stretch still considered it a kidnapping by the way it had been done—from Whipstaff had been a harsh memory for the ghost—one he wished he could forget. "I coulda killed that asshole who even planted the idea into everyones' heads about sending ya away, and I coulda... I _could_ burn this damn asylum to the ground. Once I get ya outta here, of course."  
  
"Stretch..." James shook his head. "...don't. You don't want to do that. You don't want to kill people."  
   
"You mean the ones keeping you here? You bet your ass I want 'em dead."  
  
" _I_ don't want you to kill anyone," James corrected himself. "I really don't. Like I said... this was all bound to happen eventually." He paused. "And trying to get me out of here will only make things worse."

"We can go on the run. Just you and me. I'll keep ya safe."

"I wouldn't just leave Kat like that, Stretch. Adult or not, she's still my child... and I'm sure you don't really want to leave your brothers behind, either. Or Casper, for that matter."

Stretch frowned, more annoyed than anything. _Damn it, he's right..._ Now he felt frustrated that running away with James wouldn't be possible at all.

Wanting to get his mind off of his situation—and the many ideas of a possible escape that Stretch was spouting off—James changed the subject. "How is Kat doing?"  
  
"She visits you, doesn't she?" The ghost snapped. "I figured she'd be the one to tell ya how she's feeling..."  
  
"I can tell she's lying when she says she's okay," James sighed. "So... how is she _really_ doing?"  
   
 The ghost realized his previous tone had been rather harsh. "She's trying to deal with it the best she can," Stretch replied, tone soft now, for James' sake. "Amber's helping her through it." _In more ways than one..._  
  
"I figured that." James smiled faintly. "Those two really are perfect for each other. I'm glad she has someone else there for her when I can't be."  
  
Stretch was silent, unsure how to respond to that. So instead he leaned forward, planting a light kiss against his boyfriend's neck. "And ya got me," he reminded him quietly, sincerity in his tone.  
  
"That I do," the human agreed, giving a relaxed sigh. Stretch may have given him headaches when they were living together in Whipstaff (even if they were together then, which they were), but now the ghost made James feel relaxed and at a tranquil state of mind. He felt safe when lying with Stretch, especially when they lied in each others' arms. James needed those nights with Stretch more than ever. "And I'll always be grateful for that. I don't know what I'd do if you didn't visit me every night."  
    
"And I don't know what I'd do without ya either, Doc..." Stretch gave a heavy sigh. "Though it is hard for me. All of this is just so hard... Going back home in the mornings, having to leave you here, knowing you won't be there when I get home... seeing your empty room and empty bed when you should be _there_ and not here... It's just like when they took my brother away." Stretch was referring to his youngest brother, J.T, who died a century ago. His violet eyes hardened. "I hate it. I just hate it all... I hate going home because I know you won't be there, and I don't know if you'll ever be let out of here... This place ain't your home... Whipstaff is your home, Doc... You belong there with _me."_

  
James rolled over now, until he was face to face with Stretch—his light brown eyes meeting the ghost's violet ones. "You have me now, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah," Stretch admitted, "but—"  
  
The doctor—or ex doctor now, since his license and PhD had been taken away once he was deemed legally insane—pressed his lips against Stretch's, to silence the ghost with a kiss. A soft kiss, sweet and tender, reminiscent of their very first kiss so many years before. Stretch's eyelids fluttered shut, and he made sure to enjoy these moments in the little times they had together each night. He tried to make their nightly visits last as much as possible, knowing that he'd have to leave in the early morning hours. He hated to leave his boyfriend in such a horrible place, but even the phantom knew he couldn't stay. And being a ghost only made things more difficult. Being a ghost only meant that he couldn't do much about the situation to begin with. He couldn't help _his_ James when the police came to take him away... Stretch had tried to intervine, but his brothers had held him back, and all the ghost could do was watch. It had felt like he was being killed all over again... Yet another horrible memory to add to the long list he had stored away in his mind. In the beginning of James' stay, and the first of many nightly visits, Stretch constantly had to ask James to forgive him for not stopping it—for not saving him. But James, being the patient man he was, always told the ghost that there was no need to apologize.  So overtime since then Strerch forced himself to stop apologizing... but that knawing, aching guilt was still there, and Stretch wasn't sure if it would ever go away.

 _Just more unfinished business to add to the list..._ though even Stretch knew that the only thing keeping him from crossing over now were his brothers, his nephew and James. But the ghost had a feeling that once his human died and became a ghost... well, there was a fear already there that James wouldn't remember him, seeing as how he hadn't even remembered Kat the first time he had died.  

But that was just another fear for another day. Stretch wanted to enjoy this single kiss and—if he had lungs—breathe the moment in. And since he couldn't actually breathe it in, he settled on the sensation of James' lips against his own. And what a lovely sensation it was indeed.  
    
James pulled away after a long moment, stifling a yawn as he rested his head against the ghost's transparent chest. "Just stay with me now..." He let his eyelids falll shut. "...okay?"  
  
Stretch inhaled the honey-sweet scent of James' dirty blonde hair as he pulled him in, wrapping his arms securely around the human. _His_ human. "Always," he said softly, closing his own eyes. The thumping of James' heart against his own hollow chest was always a comforting sensation for the ghost...  
   
And Stretch made a promise to himself, in that moment, to never take moments like this for granted.  
  
 _Not now and not ever._


End file.
